The invention relates to a glazed panel for use in a wall panel system. More particularly, the invention is directed to a pre-assembled glazed panel having trim members for attachment at both sides of a wall support frame, which is interchangeable with, or as a replacement for, other panels in a wall system to provide design flexibility.
Wall panel divider systems, particularly those used to segregate offices into separate work stations, require a great deal of flexibility to satisfy different choices of design and also accommodate various functions performed at different locations in the system. In order to satisfy those needs, it has been a desire in the industry to provide a glazed panel for use in wall panel systems that allows the purchaser to select various configurations and room arrangements.
It is also a need in the wall panel industry to provide a system that offers easy and quick interchangeability of existing decorative/opaque panels with glazed panels in a facile manner.
It is also often desired that a frame be left entirely open to serve as a pass-through or otherwise to provide a more open, airy feel to the office environment. It would therefore be necessary for an interchangeable glazing trim frame to have the capability of either holding a pane or being open, while in both options still providing decorative peripheral features over the wall framing members.
It is also a concern to provide for a self-aligning glazed panel to allow for slightly misaligned or racked structural framing members sometimes caused by uneven flooring or improper framing installation.
Another useful feature would be a glazed panel that has only one pane of glass and also that avoids the problems and high costs of prior art stand-alone panels by virtue of being separable from, or attachable to, space divider system support framing as a sub-assembly.
It would be a great benefit also to provide such a panel that may be pre-assembled requiring only a minimum amount of fastening steps to mount the glazed panel to a wall framing, while concomitantly allowing for the self-alignment means to be adjusted.
It would also be significant achievement to provide for a pre-assembled glazed panel with interconnected trim frames ready for mounting at one side of a panel opening and a substantially identical trim frame provided for attachment to the opposite side, but without glazing. It would therefore be quite helpful for the attachments of the glazed trim frame for the opposite trim frame to be installed substantially with the same steps and tools.
Another important feature would be the provision of a snap-on or friction fit trim piece for covering and concealing attachment fasteners for a glazed trim frame and an unglazed trim frame after the trim frames have been attached and aligned. It would also be helpful if the trim piece were capable of concealing the attachment means, the connections between trim members and the self-aligning means of the trim frames, and also have a matching decorative trim surface so an uninterrupted panel border might be provided to achieve aesthetically pleasing continuity. A related goal would be to provide a pre-assembled glazing panel that may be less than a full-height panel so that partly solid, partly glazed and/or partly open arrangements can be configured at selected locations of a space divider system.